As we get started with 2018 in just a few days, lets start a thread for the new Coney BBQ and other food offerings at KI this year. With Chef Major coming in, it is very exciting what 2018 will bring for Kings Island in their foods department.  To get the thread started, here is a few pictures that KI sent us as a sneak peak of the new Coney BBQ restaurant.

The restaurant looks great and I am very excited to try out the new offerings this season! What about you?

New Head Chef James Major introduces some interesting new foods including churro bites with toppings, turkey meatballs on a stick, and new offerings at Reds:

 

I think it looks great

Looks great in the video, but we all know it's going to look nothing like that day to day.  That's not a KI problem, that's a food industry thing.

 

If all of this is on the Meal Plan I will be truely impressed.  

I love that the decor and wallpaper are celebrating the history of the park.

You had one job...

I'm sure all food will be great as always.

Great video! Love his quote at the end "not many chefs can say they have rollercoasters in their restaurants" and super excited to try the bacon on a stick yumm!

27 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

You had one job...

I think the theme they were trying to go for was Coney Island, so the Flying Scooters was the name for the Eagles at Coney and Round Up was the original name for Halleys Comet.

1 hour ago, BlondyRidesOn said:

I think the theme they were trying to go for was Coney Island, so the Flying Scooters was the name for the Eagles at Coney and Round Up was the original name for Halleys Comet.

I was unaware of that. Thank you for the correction. I do think it’s kind of odd to see The Bat and other Coney Mall rides mixed in with the original Coney Island rides.

Actually I should correct myself. The Round Up was the official name for the style of ride Halleys Comet was, but I don't believe that was moved up from Coney. The star on the sign, however, was from the Shooting Star entrance. 

The Flying Scooter ride, when moved up from Coney Island, was renamed "Spirit of '76" before becoming the Flying Eagles, so I assume they just called it the Flying Scooters so there wouldn't be confusion.

And if you look to the right on the original photo, it does appear to include the Cuddle Up.

This all looks sooooo good! If food service can execute just getting the meat cooked right, I'll be a happy camper.  

The chicken at Hanks was cooked very well and flavorful. I enjoyed it.

I was the first guest at Coney BBQ this season.  Had the chicken the first time and tri-tips the second time.

Portion size on tri-tips was awful.  Per the supervisor only 4-5 tips per serving.  Very small amount imo. Chicken was around half a chicken, leg, small wing, thigh. Tri-tips portion size needs to be upped by at least 50%, preferably doubled though because they are not large.

Met Chef Major on my run to the BBQ joint when the rope dropped.  Nice guy, took a few minutes to chat with me about this and that.

They need to adjust the portion sizes.  I saw huge pulled pork sandwiches and dinky little tri-tips and rib portions.  

Also like the Carolina mustard sauce they had. BBQ sauce was tangy and sweet, just a touch of smoke in it.

We ate at Coney BBQ at about 7 last night. The line was long but it moved very quickly as it divided into two lines once inside the building. The service was running very smoothly. We had the pulled pork and fries and both were very good.
It was hard to find a seat after we got our food so we had to go over behind skyline to find a table and then were unsure where to put our tray, so we added it to a stack that had been started on the ground by the trash cans.

We were not expecting to eat there last night as I thought it would take way to long but hats off to them for working hard and moving people through.

We will be going back often and hoping that the food quality and service continues. I am sure that they will only have one side open most of the time, so we will see, but it is definitely a good addition.

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What were the available sides?

What were the available sides?

Mac n cheese, coleslaw, baked beans, corn on the cob, fries and hush puppies. I think that was it. 

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Made it in and out in about 10 minutes.  Great food!

Coney BBQ was good. Chicken was good. A little let down by the mac n cheese. Something was missing and a little dry.

New ordering with Kiosk and registers at counter in Chicken Shack. Food prepped in back now. 

Ate at Coney BBQ again tonight. Food was excellent again (pulled pork and fries) but the service was much slower due to no chicken being available and some in line were waiting for that and they were not letting anyone else through.
Hopefully it was a fluke and will not be a recurring problem.

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4 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Coney BBQ was good. Chicken was good. A little let down by the mac n cheese. Something was missing and a little dry.

New ordering with Kiosk and registers at counter in Chicken Shack. Food prepped in back now. 

I had to add alot of salt and pepper to the Mac N Cheese.

10 minutes ago, sixohdieselrage said:

I had to add alot of salt and pepper to the Mac N Cheese.

I mixed in the BBQ sauce the second time.  Not bad

5 hours ago, sixohdieselrage said:

I had to add alot of salt and pepper to the Mac N Cheese.

What do you expect from processed foods?

1 hour ago, Tera Ryzing said:

What do you expect from processed foods?

Let's not be a Debbie Downer. 

I for one was under the impression Chef James was changing the mac n cheese to fresh not processed. I was expecting to see more flavors since I experienced that with the other awesome food items.

7 hours ago, Gannersdaddy said:

I mixed in the BBQ sauce the second time.  Not bad

Not a bad idea. I'll try that next time!

2 hours ago, Tera Ryzing said:

What do you expect from processed foods?

I enjoy your helpfulness.

1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Let's not be a Debbie Downer. 

I for one was under the impression Chef James was changing the mac n cheese to fresh not processed. I was expecting to see more flavors since I experienced that with the other awesome food items.

Agreed 100%. I'm not saying the food was bad. I really liked it. I just wished it had a little more flavor. Coney Bar B Que was definitely a nice addition. I prefer that over a new ride!

Had the ribs last night just before closing so they were starting to run low. Run had an excellent crust on them, but two bones is barely a snack. And a third of an ear of corn was comical.

I actually dislikes both the sauces they offer. The Carolina isn't vinegary enough and the BBQ just tasted like salt.

14 minutes ago, Stoan said:

Had the ribs last night just before closing so they were starting to run low. Run had an excellent crust on them, but two bones is barely a snack. And a third of an ear of corn was comical.

I actually dislikes both the sauces they offer. The Carolina isn't vinegary enough and the BBQ just tasted like salt.

2 bones is not even a Slabette.  

I had Coney BBQ yesyerday and enjoyed it. I got Pulled Pork and Mac and Cheese and I did notice the Mac and Cheese was different (but a good kind of different). Unfortuantely, I did not get to meet Chef Major as I hoped, but I have all season to do so.

EDIT: Also, the Tri-tips looked good, so I might have to "tri" those in the future.

13 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:

I had Coney BBQ yesyerday and enjoyed it. I got Pulled Pork and Mac and Cheese and I did notice the Mac and Cheese was different (but a good kind of different). Unfortuantely, I did not get to meet Chef Major as I hoped, but I have all season to do so.

EDIT: Also, the Tri-tips looked good, so I might have to "tri" those in the future.

The tri tip is my plan for next weekend.